PEONIES 
29 
more required by some other plants. At the same time it should be 
stated that the Aconitums will do well in a hot, sunny border, for their 
thick fleshy rootstocks hold a good store of moisture. If an increase of 
'flowering stock is desired the roots should be divided before the crowns 
have begun to shoot in early spring. 
They produce an abundance of seed, and this should be sown as soon 
as it is ripe, in beds, or in pans placed ip a cold frame. The seedlings, 
when large enough to handle, should be pricked out into boxes, to remain 
until the following spring, when they may be planted out in their 
permanent positions, nine or ten inches apart. 
Description of The plant represented is A. variegatum, var. bicolor. 
Plate 12. 1 is a section through the flower, showing the 
hammer-shaped petal within the hood. 
PEONIES 
Natural Order Ranunculacke. Genus Pceonia 
Pjsonia (the classical name used by the Greeks, who are said to have 
named the plant in honour of Paeon, a physician who used it medi¬ 
cinally), a genus of herbaceous and shrubby perennials, including about 
two dozen species distributed over Central Europe, temperate Asia, and 
North-West America. They are distinguished by the large, alternate, 
lobed or finely-divided leaves, and the very large and showy regular 
flowers There are five green sepals, persistent; petals, five to ten in 
the single flowers, white, pink, crimson, or purple. Carpels, two to five. 
The Peony, as a cultivated plant in this country, dates 
from the year 1548, when Pceonia officinalis was intro¬ 
duced from Southern Europe, probably more for medical use than for the 
beauty of its flowers. It spread widely, and may now be found in most 
cottage gardens, whilst its modified varieties have their place in all sorts 
of gardens. P. peregrina, which is also commonly cultivated, appears to 
have been the next introduction (1629), also from Europe; and a few 
years later (1633) the dwarf P. humilis came from the South of France. 
It was not until a hundred and thirty-two years after that P. tenuifolia 
was brought from Siberia, followed at a distance of nineteen years by 
P. aibijlora from the same regions, the parent of an enormous number 
of fragrant varieties and hybrids. P. Moutan, the only species with 
shrubby habit, was introduced from China in 1789, and of this also our 
gardens have produced many beautiful varieties. 
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